CHILDISH

Several stories in the news recently shine a spotlight on the children pretending to be adults that make up the political left of today.

First, from the "We can dish it out, but we can't take it" department comes this sad whine:

Top McCain Aide Insults Entire College Graduating Class...
"Very Unlikely Any Of You Will Ever Possess...One Small Fraction Of The Character Of John McCain"...

Clearly it is ok for the graduating class to insult, demean, and otherwise act like spoiled children whose rudeness apparently knows no bounds; but when they are criticized for such behavior it cannot be tolerated. On that basis alone, it seems likely that the top McCain aide is absolutely correct--particularly since McCain himself demonstrated adult behavior.

Second, in response to this disturbing story, the great intellects posting at Kos have this to say:

OH MY GOD! by davej Sun May 21, 2006 at 12:48:07 PM PDT
You're just notgoing to believe this outrage!!! Two men got on a school bus!!!!! This is just incredible!!!!!

OH MY GOD!!!!
[...]
It's a good thing the sentries are on duty, keeping watch to guard and protect us!!!!!!!!!

These adult-sized children scoff at those who might have prevented an American Beslan; and would become even more hysterical if nothing had been done. And later, if these two men or others had created a hostage situation, would be screaming for the heads of those who did not "connect the dots".

Finally, for your artistic edification, we have an infantile movie director who thinks himself quite avant garde and on the leading edge of protest by having real gay sex during a rendition of the national anthem in his new movie. The movie is described as a "call to arms" against George Bush. Arms? I suspect that another part of human anatomy is involved in the kind of screwing he is talking about. But nevermind. Gays are tortured and imprisoned in some countries; but America is the only country this fellow can think of to bash with his "art".

I offer these stories as further evidence of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of today's left.

Together they demonstrate the fundamentally infantile manner in which many of the members of the left side of the political spectrum deal with the real world.

The first one portrays all the classic narcissistic entitlement of the spoiled brat. As Rich Lowery at The Corner commented at the time:

1) The solipsism of the student Left is incredible. That a war hero would come to talk to you about what he's learned in life, and your reaction would be to shout—“it's about me!” Amazing.
2) The forfeit of foreign-policy idealism on the left at the moment is near total. McCain got some applause when he said we should be doing more in Darfur—maybe because that's a cause that has an anti-Bush tinge. But his defense of American values and spreading them to the world was met with indifference or hostility.

Yes. Amazing is the word to describe it.

The second illustration highlights the childish lack of seriousness that the left has toward national security and the protection of America and its citizens. Even if the two Saudi men are completely innocent of any dastardly intent; to have ignored this incident would have been the height of folly in today's world. The contempt displayed toward those whose job is to protect all of us, is telling. Think very carefully about whether those possessing this level of immaturity and willful blindness should have anything to say about national security.

In Human Events Online, Rabbi Spero put it this way (hat tip: OnlineAnalyst)

It is easy to portray oneself as a champion of “civil liberties” during time of war when one knows that while pontificating the “high road” his safety is still guaranteed since the adults in power will not listen to juvenile cliches and will continue doing the sensible things that must be done to protect Americans.

Let’s point at the Democrats, while the American people are listening, and say: OK, we’ll do it your way. Safety is secondary to whatever Human Rights Watch and the ACLU demand. We will win this war not through the historic methods that have proven efficacious but through the method advanced by the Left. Yes, the Left has assured us that by being ‘beyond criticism’ our enemies will respect us, recognize how sweet we are, and thus put down their arms.
[...]
Republican Leaders, look the Democrats in the face and charge: If you were in office and had the responsibility of protecting the country, your party would not follow Russ Feingold and Dick Durban and would be doing 99% of what the President is doing. And if Democrats answer that they would indeed lead according to their holier-than-thou rhetoric, then boldly tell them and the American electorate that such an administration would be derelict in its duty, that such an administration would deserve being booted out of office since they would be leaving the American people defenseless. Charge them as guilty for not using all the technological and physical powers disposable to a Superpower, choosing instead to defend us as if a third world country bereft of any mechanism.

As for the third example of the emotionally immature movie director who wants to speak "truth to power" (don't they all?) and wants to be perceived as some sort of deep and edgy "artist", stickin' it to the man (you know, THE MAN: George Bush)?

This is the same kind of "artist" that delights in placing dung on an image of Mary and thinks he is making a serious statement about religion. The only serious statment he is making is about himself.

Most young children believe that their excrement-- and all their other bodily excretions--are pretty serious and special stuff; and for a brief time in their young life, they are correct (at least according to their parents). But real adults are expected to manage their exhibitionistic tendencies and not subject the rest of humanity directly to their unresolved shit. Great art--meaningful art--finds a creative way to transform those childhood conflicts into something positive. In an earlier post, I commented:

The problem --or rather, the reality is--that art is a critical part of life and through it one can can become aware of all the potential of what life can be. It is a way for humans to bring real, concrete meaning to abstract concept. As a selective recreation of reality, art uniquely captures and presents an idea or emotion in a way that can be grasped and understood by an observer. It provides, in other words, a "sense of life" --an instinctual fuel--that can inspire and motivate the perceiver--or, it can have the opposite effect.

Only fully mature and functioning adults are able to (1) appreciate that everything is not always about them and therefore be able to learn from someone else's life experience; (2) make those difficult and sometimes unpopular adult decisions that might be necessary to protect this country; or, (3) create lasting and meaningful art.

Grow up.

UPDATE: Greg Gutfield channeling Jane Rohe discusses the amazing "courage" of the student commencement speaker at the New School last week and what she meant to say:

For example, I actually said this: "Preemptive war is dangerous!" Who but me could say that kind of stuff among a group of people who rabidly agree with everything I say?

That takes real guts.

That's why I am now writing for the Huffington Post! Because writing for the Huffington Post is dangerous, too. And I know that all of you who also write for the Huffington Post will agree with that! That makes me feel good about myself, and good about you. We are now all feeling good. And feeling good is good! Just like war is dangerous!

But don't get me wrong. I hate war! It is dangerous!

You may wonder if I have feelings, just because I am so courageous. Well, the answer is yes! I have feelings! You might even call them strong feelings. I also love playing music! I love playing music, even in a time of war, which is dangerous. The war. Not the music. The music is just brave.

Forgive me if my writing is a little scattered. What I am really hoping for is a book deal, not this unpaid internship crap at Moveon.org.

I would say Gutfield has captured the shallow silliness of the little children who obtained their degrees that day.